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Tre Jones and Alex O’Connell spoke with the media ahead of Saturday’s game against Miami where they discussed playing without Zion, closing out the regular season and tomorrow’s matchup.

SOPHOMORE GUARD ALEX O’CONNELL:

On moving on from two tough road games and playing at home against Miami:

“We learned a few lessons with those last couple games. I think the biggest one is that we have to continue to prepare and that we have to love preparing. Especially when March comes around we are going to have more games in tighter windows and we have to remember to stay mentally focused whether that be 48 hours later or 24 hours later.”

On the team and where they stand without Zion (Williamson) in the lineup:

“I think we are obviously a different team right now with Zion out but I think we are finding some pieces and we’re growing a little bit. Once Zion comes back, which we are hoping is sooner rather than later, we want him to be 100% healthy when he comes back so he can be as dominant as he’s been this season. It just shows that once Zion comes back we are going to be a stronger and deeper team which is important come tournament time.”

On Zion supporting and cheering on the bench:

“It’s really cool to have a guy who is as dominant as he is cheer you on and get excited when you do something. It’s great to have him on the bench even though we would much rather have him on the floor.”

On the confidence going into this weekend after a career game at Syracuse:

“It gave me a lot of confidence and I know going into the next game I was feeling my shots. Seeing them go in feels good and being able to ball fake and drive and get my teammates open shots is something I am trying to work on trying to become a piece that my teammates can trust especially Zion being off the floor, there is sort of a gap that needs to be filled and I am just trying to fill that gap.”

FRESHMAN GUARD TRE JONES:

On giving positive advice to Zion and his injury while he is on the bench:

“I feel like he doesn’t need a lot of advice. He’s been doing a great job for us trying to say what he needs to say on the bench and doing as much as he can from the bench. I know right away I just try and tell him to get healthy and focus on that first because that’s what is most important.”

On the mentality going into the last couple of games before the ACC Tournament:

“Same mentality as we always had. We have lost two of the last three now so we trying to get back to playing like have been playing earlier on in the year but same mentality coming into every game and attacking every game the same way.”

On getting team steals back up:

“Starting to pressure the ball again like we have been. Getting out in the passing lanes like we have been and just playing with the intensity on defense that we used to play with. Even when we did have Zion there before he got hurt, we weren’t playing with that same intensity so just trying to get back to that intensity and energy on the defensive end and detect the hunger that we had too.”

On the team and where they stand without Zion in the lineup:

“We can still assess our self without Zion in there. We aren’t playing our best basketball right now but we are going to go out really energized tomorrow and really hungry tomorrow trying to get back to how we usually play and whenever it is that Zion comes back, we just want him to get healthy and when he does come back we know what he can bring to the table so it will take off even more from there. But until that time is, which we don’t know yet, we’re just going to keep playing how we know how we can play and come back even stronger.”